Guest Commentary: The Children Are Our Future: So Why Aren’t They Learning Online?

Michael Wille, a member of the Young Leaders Program at the Heritage Foundation, picks up on some of the buzz going on in the distance learning opinion arena, including an article by Liberating Learning Blog Contributor Tom Vander Ark.
Willie's conclusion: The best solution to see improved student performance anywhere in the country is to support policy options that promote parental choice in education. Virtual learning is opening the doors of learning to many students and should not go offline. Read more here.

Mass. "Innovation" Regulations Block True Innovation

Worst online learning law in America. That's what I wrote about this month's action by a Massachusetts state board's action that places restrictions on virtual schools that want to open in that state.


As the incoming chair of the International Association of K-12 Online learning (iNACOL), I am insulted by this dramatic assault on parent/student choice. Please read my entire blog entry on this matter.


Also, please take time to read the letter written by Susan Patrick, the director of iNACOL wrote to the comission of this Massachusetts education board

Guest Commentary: California Edtech Money Sits on Sidelines as Legislators Bicker

This editorial from the Sacramento Bee hits the nail on the head.

It is ironic that the home state of Silicon Valley cannot figure out a way to divide federal stimulus so that local school districts can acquire technology to improve classroom teaching.

California is the only state that has not distributed this money.

Yes, it's a shame.

Guest Commentary: Teachers Unions vs. Online Education

Katharine Mangu-Ward has a smart article the August/September issue of Reason magazine. In it, she gives a strong overview of the online learning movement and why teachers unions have put up so many hurdles to expanding the use of electronic teaching tools.


Mangu-Ward's conclusion: Teachers unions are consistently among the biggest donors to U.S. election campaigns. The National Education Association can buy and sell elections, but a continuous flow of membership dues will be tougher to come by if online education blooms.

In her article, Mangu-Ward extensively quotes Liberating Learning blog contributor Ton Vander Ark.

Mangu-Ward's bottom line: "We can't teachers unions to allow only one version of online education to squeak by."

Can Parents Help Turn Schools Around?

I participated in an online debate for the National Journal. The subject: What role should parents play in school reform?

The first step toward increasing parental participation is to allow parents to choose the kind of school--be it virtual or bricks-and-mortar, charter or neighborhood--their children will attend. Read all of my response to the National Journal's education debate question.

Guest Commentary: It’s Time for a Latino Online Education Revolution

Don Soifer, executive vice president of the Lexington Institute, for Latino children and their families, "an online learning revolution could hardly come at a better time."

Today two in five Latino eighth graders continue to score at miserable “below basic” levels on the National Assessment for Educational Progress, Soifer writes.

How can online learning help Latino students mired in failing schools? "For starters, high-quality online (or online hybrid) programs provide teachers with continuous verification of individual students’ content mastery, allowing them to specialize instruction to their particular needs. Such efficiency in instruction, which can already be found in the best classrooms in the best schools, can make a world of difference," says Soifer.

Soifer is right that using new technology as an educational tool can help to change young lives.

Guest Commentary: Georgia parents angry at state’s policies on virtual high schools

The Georgia Families for Public Virtual Education has a right to be disgusted with its state’s education policy makers.

In June, the state Charter School Commission rejected a petition from Georgia Cyber Academy to allow the school to offer high school classes. The reasons? Because the commission believed the cyber academy did not meet state performance benchmarks in math and because the school allowed a teacher to serve on the governing board.

The commission did vote earlier this month to allow two new virtual schools to begin enrolling high school students this fall. But last week, commission officials said, both schools decided to postpone their opening after determining the funding they received was inadequate.

The Georgia Families for Public Virtual Education sees this reversal in another way. According to a statement it issued, the two cyber high schools were “were forced to withdrawal due to low and unfair funding from the state.”

"It is concerning that two new online schools set to provide high-level education to Georgia students are forced to close because the state refuses to uphold a law providing equal funding for virtual schools," said Rene Lord, chairman of the Georgia Families for Public Virtual Education.

There is still time to get these cyber academies on track to open this fall. The Georgia Cyber Academy can amend its current charter to allay those governance concerns and, if the state board approves an amended petition in August, the school would become the first and only virtual school offering high school classes.

The Georgia Families for Public Virtual Education should continue its push for full funding of the two virtual high schools. State policy makers should do what it takes to get these virtual schools ready for this fall’s crop of high school students.

Education As We Know It Is Finished

Clayton M. Christensen, my co-author on Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns and I teamed up again to write a article for Forbes.com.

In the piece, we look at the angst many districts are experiencing this summer—teacher layoffs, budget cuts, and a future of smaller revenue streams because of a reduction in property taxes, an outgrowth of the housing bust.

But out of the pain, there may be some gain. For example, the people who run many schools realize that they can save considerably by cutting back on traditional classroom versions of non-core courses--advanced placement, foreign language, economics and so forth--and instead offer them online, thereby aggregating demand across many school districts. Likewise they can cut back on the number of periods during which they offer certain classroom courses and still offer affordable methods to meet student demand by offering those courses online.

We hope that there will be some gain from this pain.

Guest Commentary: Ohio Editorial Calls for Policymakers to Follow Georgia’s Lead

Frustrated over Ohio’s slow acceptance of digital learning (there is a moratorium on creation of new state online schools), in an editorial, the Akron Beacon-Journal tells readers Ohio should look to Georgia for leadership.

“Georgia is committed to helping new high-quality virtual schools open. The state realizes this sector is evolving rapidly, and new great school models are being developed continuously ...

“As Georgia illustrates, the state can expand innovative programming for its students while also maintaining smart accountability.”

Guest commentary: Indiana newspaper praises shift to elearning

The editorial board of the Evansville Courier & Press reports that only a year ago "a dissatisfied public was demanding" that the local school board "do more to elevate the academic performance of its students."

The district took on the challenge, and according to a Courier & Press editorial, thanks to a new virtual academy, the "the public has been getting just what it demanded, through nontraditional programs and an infusion of modern technological tools."

More proof that when technology is paired with education the results are positive.

3 Eras of Education

Here’s a good quick read: Rethinking Education in the Age of Technology: The Digital Revolution and Schooling in America (Teachers College, 2009), Allan Collins & Richard Halverson.

In my edReformer post, I created a chart that summarizes the current industrial-era education, what was before, and what’s next. Tell me what you think.

House ed bill favors more of the same rather than change

In the last few days, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to spend $10 billion to prevent teacher layoffs and, in effect, to allow our current failed school system to maintain the status quo.

In a sign that the leaders of this initiative, Representative David Obey and others prefer the status quo over changing the system, the bill cuts $800 million from the President’s key reform initiatives, such as Race to the Top.

Not that Race to the Top is the end all be all—it’s not—but spending money we don’t have to support an antiquated school system built to operate like a factory is far worse.

The budgetary crises into which all schools are plunging have created the opportunity for long-needed changes.

Although many schools have framed these looming cuts as a threat to the way they operate—despite the fact that the teaching force has grown 10 percent since 2000 even as student enrollment only increased five percent—others are seeing this as an opportunity to transform their model through the implementation of online learning.

But by pumping borrowed money in to maintain the status quo, we’re merely allowing our schools the luxury of avoiding these changes. This comes at a steep price. Charging education isn’t changing it.

While U.S. schools stand still, the rest of the world is moving forward, and this has a price tag — not just for individual children, but also for the nation.

President Obama has promised to veto the bill if it comes to his desk. If it does, he’ll be right to do so.

Guest commentary: The new classroom--online education and charter schools

You say you want an education revolution? Well you know, Gisèle Huff, chairman of the Innosight Institute, agrees with you. Recently she wrote, “We need to revolutionize the way our children learn; we can do that by harnessing the technology we already have at our disposal.”

In an op-ed for “The Hill,” Huff says, “Making technology an integral part of the curriculum and redefining the role of the teacher would lead to disruptive innovations.”

Huff got it right. Technology is one of the keys to better and more effective schools.